The early morning of Shells Town was shrouded in a thin mist. The cries of seagulls, accompanied by the sound of waves crashing against the shore, added a certain solemnity to the small town that housed the Marine branch.
Raymond stood on the deck of the warship, gazing at the silhouette of Shells Town, his expression quite grim.
He had completely overestimated the rate at which he could acquire Potential Points.
On the voyage from Syrup Village to Shells Town, they had encountered a tsunami and a wave of audacious pirates, and repairing the ship had delayed them for six days. The originally five-day journey had been dragged out to a full eleven days.
During these eleven days, aside from handling daily administrative tasks, Raymond had invested almost all his time in training.
However, the pitiful number on the system panel, [Potential Points: 1], made him want to curse.
Kuro had just been seriously injured by him and was clearly unable to train normally during this period.
This meant that with his own obsessive training, he had only gained 1 Potential Point in eleven days.
That wasn't the worst part. The key was that this 1 point had appeared on the fifth day of the voyage. After another six days of the same training intensity, the Potential Points hadn't changed at all!
The difficulty of obtaining this thing would gradually increase!
The current limit for the [Crewmate Section] was four people. Setting aside how to increase the crewmate limit for now, he needed to find suitable targets as soon as possible to fill the crewmate slots and maximize the rate of acquiring Potential Points.
"Fortunately, I made it in time for Zoro's third week of fasting. If I were any later, I'd have to find an opportunity before Garp arrived for the escort. As for the subsequent Morgan rebellion... forget it, pulling tricks under Grandpa Garp's nose is too risky!"
"Men, dock immediately!"
"But... Lieutenant Raymond, didn't Captain Nezumi order us not to alert the 153rd Branch?" a Marine with the rank of Ensign hesitated.
"I said, dock immediately! Don't you understand? If you don't dock, am I supposed to swim over? On my ship, you only need to reply 'Yes'! Understood!" Raymond gave the Ensign a cold look, his right hand already resting on the hilt of his sword.
The Ensign immediately broke out in a cold sweat, snapped to attention, and saluted. "Yes! Lieutenant! Docking immediately!"
The warship's anchor chain made a heavy metallic clanging sound as the gangplank slammed onto the pier of Shells Town.
Raymond straightened his clothes and swept his gaze over the bustling crowd at the port. He noticed that several soldiers from the 153rd Branch were already looking over here warily.
"You all stay and guard the ship. If anyone from the 153rd Branch comes to inquire, just say we're on a secret mission and making a stop for supplies!"
"Yes! Lieutenant!"
Raymond nodded in satisfaction, completely ignoring the suspicious gazes of the 153rd Branch soldiers, and strode towards the town center.
Why fear alerting the 153rd Branch? Captain Morgan was going to be reincarnated today. What could be more earth-shattering than that?
...
On the other side, Luffy and his group were experiencing the "statue incident."
Captain Morgan had ordered a group of his men to erect a marble statue of himself on top of the branch building. Unexpectedly, Luffy had climbed up and smashed the upper half of the statue to pieces...
Meanwhile, Coby was fumbling in the training grounds, trying to untie Zoro's ropes.
"Hey, pink-haired kid! You're making the ropes tighter!" Zoro yelled in frustration. He had already heard the commotion coming from the direction of the branch building and knew Luffy must have caused big trouble. He was eager to go and help.
Coby flinched in fear, and a knot he had just managed to open was pulled into a dead knot again.
"S-sorry! I'm too nervous!" Coby's voice was on the verge of tears, his fingers trembling like a sieve.
"Hurry up and get my swords!"
Just as Zoro's voice fell, three sheathed longswords suddenly flew over the wall and stuck heavily into the ground near Zoro's feet.
"Hey! Who's throwing someone else's swords around like that?!" Although Zoro was roaring, his eyes lit up.
But this kid Coby, instead of immediately handing the swords to Zoro, climbed up the wall to look for the person who threw them.
"Luffy? Is that you... Huh? Why is no one there?"
"Pink-haired kid! Hurry up and give me the swords!" Zoro was so angry that veins popped on his forehead. His body, tied up like a rice dumpling, thrashed around like a beached shark.
"S-sorry! Here you go!"
Zoro freed himself from his bonds and touched his Wado Ichimonji. His confidence instantly soared. With a neat flip, he had all three swords firmly in his mouth and hands, and then he ran towards the building without looking back.
In the shadows of a large tree, Raymond was silently watching everything.
According to the original story, Luffy and his group would eventually defeat Morgan in the training grounds and receive the cheers of the Marines present.
But this did not align with Raymond's interests.
Because there were too many people present, he couldn't silence so many people under the noses of the two protagonists.
He first found Morgan's office and completed the "check-in" task ahead of time.
However, this time the reward was far less impressive than the previous Observation Haki. The system only prompted [Physical fitness has received a moderate enhancement].
Raymond guessed that the system's method of determining rewards was most likely related to his own strength.
When he "conquered" the 16th Branch before, his strength was only at the level of a branch elite, so that act was considered a challenge beyond his level.
Now that he possessed Observation Haki, he was strong enough to dominate a region in the East Blue. So, "conquering" a branch of the same level again, the system's reward returned to the normal standard...
Afterward, Raymond rushed to find Zoro's swords, leaving Luffy to find nothing, forcing him to wander around the building with Helmeppo.
This turned the originally open-air battlefield into a more concealed alley fight.
"Next, I just have to wait for Zoro and Morgan to meet..." Raymond glanced at Coby, then pulled his hat down low and quietly followed behind Zoro.
At this time, the Marine 153rd Branch building was in complete chaos.
Luffy was leading Helmeppo around, searching everywhere for the swords. Morgan was leading a group of his men, rampaging through the corridors, searching for the straw-hatted boy.
As for Zoro...
Raymond suddenly realized a problem. This moss-head was terrible with directions!
He had been following him for a full five or six minutes, only to find that Zoro had circled the same corridor four times!
Damn it! How dare you! Didn't you notice that the portrait of Akainu on the wall has already stared at you four times!
Veins popped on Raymond's forehead. He decided to change his approach. Instead of running around like a headless fly with Zoro, it would be better to lure Morgan over!
No sooner said than done!
Just as Raymond was about to go upstairs, Zoro, in front of him, for some unknown reason, suddenly slammed on the brakes. His three swords crossed in front of his chest with a "clang," his sharp gaze fixed on the corner of the corridor. "Hey! Come on out. You've been following for so long... the smell of blood on you is about to stain my swords!"